Moderate physical activity, prolonged exercise or working in hot, humid environments causes excessive loss of minerals and body fluids through perspiration and breathing. Physical activity, such as exercise, particularly in the heat, places a great metabolic demand on a human body. Heat generated during exercise is dissipated during sweating.
Sweat which is lost from the body during exercise can produce a state of dehydration or hypohydration. Associated with dehydration is an impairment of the body's heat dissipation and performance capacity. It is well known that loss of water, electrolytes, and depletion of carbohydrates are the primary causes of fatigue which can impair work capacity. To maintain performance it is necessary to replace the lost water, electrolytes, carbohydrates and other nutrients.
Attempts have been made to counteract these adverse effects of strenuous activity. Consumption of water helps maintain body temperature and blood volume, but water is absorbed relatively slowly. Products have been developed recently which combine sugar, water, essential electrolytes and other ingredients lost from the body through physical activity. Several well known products are Gatorade Thirst Quencher.RTM., All Sport.RTM. and PowerAde.RTM.. Other compositions are well known and are described, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,606 issued to Boyle et al. Oct. 17, 1989 and 4,322,407 issued to Ko, Mar. 30, 1982.
The focus of rehydration (Sports) beverages, has been to replenish lost electrolytes, carbohydrates, and other essential constituents which are lost through dehydration. Only a few address the unmet need of providing rapid cellular hydration and water distribution within the body. Beverage formulas that address cellular needs are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,650 to Fregly issued Sep. 15, 1992 and 5,114,723 issued to Stray-Gundersen May 19, 1992.
Although there are formulas that help to combat some of the unmet needs, many of the commercial beverages cause a feeling of fullness or satisfaction and therefore drinking is stopped before the amount of liquid needed for rehydration is consumed.
The invention described herein is a novel composition which surprisingly provides enhanced cellular hydration while avoiding the premature cessation of drinking. Further, users of the product report lower levels of fatigue, and increased cognitive performance after heat dehydration when the novel composition is used.
An object of the present invention is to provide beverage compositions which facilitate the distribution of fluid throughout the body, particularly at the cellular level.
Another object of this invention is to provide thirst quenching beverage compositions.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide beverage compositions with increased drinkability.
These and other objects will become apparent from the following detailed description.
All percentages herein are by weight unless otherwise specified.